Southeast Michigan’s Hope
United Way for Southeastern Michigan has been working diligently to transform its business model into one that better addresses underlying causes of the most serious problems plaguing our region.
Since the fall of 2005 we’ve spent considerable time reaching out to residents of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties to hear about issues that mattered most to them. We asked residents to identify a few vital areas in which they thought United Way, with an intense focus, could create lasting change in our region.
The feedback was incredible, in fact, unparalleled. We heard the voices of more than 6,500 metro residents, through 85 personal interviews with key leaders, 25 focus groups and over 6,400 responses to our community survey. After thoroughly analyzing the data, we found that the common aspiration (or shared hope) for our region is that:
All people across southeastern Michigan have the educational and economic opportunities needed to succeed and thrive.
That’s southeast Michigan’s hope, put simply.
The community told us that in order for United Way to move toward making its aspiration a reality -- one that we can sustain long-term -- our work needs to focus on three broad categories:
If we are successful we will not only be able to get more children prepared to succeed in school by age 6, prepare more adults for the new economy and get more families into homes in strong neighborhoods, we’ll be able to address issues that cause them to struggle in the first place. That’s how lasting change happens. And what matters more than that?
Since the fall of 2005 we’ve spent considerable time reaching out to residents of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties to hear about issues that mattered most to them. We asked residents to identify a few vital areas in which they thought United Way, with an intense focus, could create lasting change in our region.
The feedback was incredible, in fact, unparalleled. We heard the voices of more than 6,500 metro residents, through 85 personal interviews with key leaders, 25 focus groups and over 6,400 responses to our community survey. After thoroughly analyzing the data, we found that the common aspiration (or shared hope) for our region is that:
All people across southeastern Michigan have the educational and economic opportunities needed to succeed and thrive.
That’s southeast Michigan’s hope, put simply.
The community told us that in order for United Way to move toward making its aspiration a reality -- one that we can sustain long-term -- our work needs to focus on three broad categories:
- Educational Preparedness – People are ready to succeed
- Economic Security – People are self-sufficient and secure
- Basic Needs – People are supported in times of crisis
If we are successful we will not only be able to get more children prepared to succeed in school by age 6, prepare more adults for the new economy and get more families into homes in strong neighborhoods, we’ll be able to address issues that cause them to struggle in the first place. That’s how lasting change happens. And what matters more than that?
posted by UWSEM webmaster at
6:59 PM
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